Robin Ventura, old-school veteran that he is, would never use injuries as an alibi for shoddy fielding. He will not use his sore shoulder or aching leg as an excuse for the uncharacteristic errors he has been committing of late. But manager Bobby Valentine will do it for him.

“I thought his leg affected his fielding,” Valentine said before yesterday’s 2-0 win over Boston, referring to Ventura’s seventh and eighth errors of the season in Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Red Sox.

“He got hit with a hard-hit ball the day before. He was a little hesitant. His shoulder definitely caused the error in the Yankee game when he one-hopped it by [Todd] Zeile, because he hurt his shoulder the play before. Other than that, I think his health has been good.”

Compared to last year’s injury-plagued campaign – shoulder surgery in December, a 15-day DL stint for a sore rotator cuff, and constant pain throughout – Ventura’s health has indeed been good. But, of late, his fielding has not been even though Ventura won’t use the shoulder as an excuse.

“Nah, I feel fine, actually,” said Ventura, who had an ice-pack on after the game and sounded surprised at the thought of actually being healthy. “I’m OK. This (ice pack) is a daily thing, it’s just a precaution.”

Nevertheless, Ventura, 34 yesterday, is a six-time Gold Glove winner who is suddenly suffering in the field.

He committed just one error in his first 65 games, but made seven in the next 20 games, including misplaying grounders in the sixth and seventh innings Friday. That first gaffe led to an unearned run, their 39th of the year after giving up a major league record-low 20 two years ago.

Shockingly, the only Met with more errors than Ventura – usually the stalwart of a rock-solid infield – is former Gold Glove shortstop Rey Ordonez, who has nine. But he said the problem is with his glove,